Clive Palmer, an Australian billionaire mining mogul, has announced that he wants to not only build an exact replica of the Titanic, but also wants to reenact the ship's ill-fated maiden journey. Er, without that whole sinking part. He's skipping that. And okay, it's not going to be an exact replica. It's going to be fitted with fancy technology to ensure a safe trip. Though we imagine passengers might still feel some anxiety on day four.

When asked if he thought the so-called Titanic II was sinkable -- a sly reference to the original's misnomer -- Palmer replied, "Of course it will sink if you put a hole in it ... It will be designed as a modern ship with all the technology to ensure that doesn't happen. But, of course, if you are superstitious like you are, you never know what could happen." Aside from "state-of-the-art engineering" and a diesel engine, the ship will be as close to the original as possible. Would you be nervous if you had a chance to be on-board a replica Titanic ship?

Top Opinion

Unless you invited all 525 members of congress and actually sank it. Then they could get a taste of what they are doing to this country. Otherwise, its a waste of money... We all know what happens ad nauseum.

I wouldn't because mostly out of respect for the victims of the Titanic and 3 other important reasons: Olympic, Britannica and Concordia! Accidents happen but the captain's actions were very shocking. No thanks

I think that what happened to the last ship was, they doubted God's authority, and abilities. If you remember, in the movie Titanic, Billy Zane's character, Cal, said at the beginning of the movie: "Not even God could sink this ship." He was basically saying that the people who created Titanic, are much powerful and more able than God. I think that as long as this man keeps a humble heart about this project, and puts God first, everything will go fine in recreating this ship.

I would. It's history in the making and they're obviously not making the same mistakes as the first ship, plus they have so many advances in technology in place to aid it. People who think it's dangerous are either superstitious or ignorant to the safety precautions this man has to take in order to ensure a safe voyage.

Besides, the ship's name is not cursed. I hardly think history is going to repeat itself given the changes and so forth. The saying about history repeating itself because of repeating mistakes does not apply here as the man is clearly not repeating the mistakes of the previous voyage.

So you're saying that even though in the last 100 years MASSIVE improvements and discoveries in that sort of technology - The outcome won't change at all and The Titanic II will still sink in exactly the same way?

How do you know he doesn't already help the less fortunate? People who see others spend a lot of money assume those people don't give to charities even though they don't actually know. I don't either. That's why I'm not assuming.

I'm sure you spend money on things you don't need. Why aren't you giving that to charity?

I've got better things to do with my time, and I'm not very interested in the Titanic anyway (it's not that I completely don't care for it as a historical thing that happened, just that there are things that interest and matter to me much, much more. E.g stuff that is happening and is very relevant right now, or more interesting historical things etc.).

Frankly, I'm not even sure I understand the question. Even if was an exact replica with the original navigation equipment, what are the chances of it hitting an iceberg today? I don't see how this would be any more dangerous than sailing on any other cruise ship. If anything, I'd be much more worried about pirates or terrorists than any superstitious nonsense about the name.

If you care to check your facts, you'll find that the captain of the Exxon Valdez (Joseph Hazelwood) actually had nothing to do with the grounding of the ship. The ship was on course and on schedule when he handed over control to the third mate who was fully qualified, on paper to take over at that point. It was the third mate, stone cold sober, who misread his position on the chart, misidentified a clearly visible beacon, and started his turn much too soon.

I'd much sooner sail with Captain Hazelwood in charge than with that third mate.

Well, it's still a pretty awesome ship full of luxury, and this one is a replica of the most famous ship ever (no, the Ark doesn't count). It definitely makes it stand out from the other gazillion luxury cruise liners. Good business.They'll probably need 20 security guards to keep people from trying to yell "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!" from the tip of the ship, which btw was off-limits to passengers on the original Titanic as well.